"The timber is very valuable, as it is one of the few woods the white ants will not eat, and it is used for a great many purposes; the leaves are fashioned into many useful things, and the chief use of the tree is for producing the coarse sugar that is made from its juice, in the same manner as from the cocoa-nut palm. It is a curious circumstance that the two trees will not flourish in the same region, and that both are nearly equally valuable to mankind. In the neighborhood of Jaffna, in the north of the island, there are more than six millions of these Palmyra-trees, and they support a great number of people." [Illustration: INDIA-RUBBER-TREE.] Many of the palm-trees in the gardens were covered with vines and creeping plants; one of them, known as the beetle-vine, was full of bright blossoms that made a sharp contrast to the dark-green foliage. There were several specimens of the India-rubber-tree, and Frank remarked that one of them reminded him of an American elm, with its wide-spreading branches, and its apparent fondness for the house near which it stood. They had a pleasant stroll through the gardens, which cover an area of about one hundred and forty acres, and are beautifully laid out from one end to the other. A little river flows through the centre of the gardens, and in several places it has been widened into pools filled with aquatic plants. Altogether, the excursion of the morning was crowded with interest and instruction, and the boys returned to Kandy full of delight with what they had seen and heard. [Illustration: RESIDENCE OF A COFFEE-PLANTER.] After breakfast the party remained in-doors for several hours, partly on account of the mid-day heat, and partly in consequence of a shower of rain that came without warning. In the afternoon they went to see a coffee plantation belonging to the brother of their entertainer, and to learn something of the coffee culture of Ceylon. Here is the result of their observations: "Kandy is the centre of the coffee culture of Ceylon; coffee grows at an elevation of 1800 feet and more, and the centre of the island has been found well adapted to it. There are now about 1200 plantations--they call them estates here--of an average extent of 250 acres each. Coffee land is very dear: a good plantation, with the trees bearing, everything in proper condition, and well situated, is worth $500 an acre. Wild and uncleared land is worth $65 an acre, and the man who takes it must be at the expense of clearing and planting, and can expect no returns under six years. Much money has been made in the business, just as it has been made in America by raising sugar and cotton; and, on the other hand, much money has been lost. There are many men in Ceylon who are poorer to-day than they were ten years ago, in consequence of their losses in the coffee business, and if any young man in America has an ambition to come here to make a fortune by cultivating coffee, he had better stay at home.